


Make Me Proud

by MegaloMina



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, mild violence, tw: toxic relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25226014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaloMina/pseuds/MegaloMina
Summary: He was kind, always smiling and beautiful beyond comprehension. You could’ve sworn he was an angel; he swore he wasn’t
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Make Me Proud

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Tumblr (Chogiwakeupsheeple) Jun. 13, 2018

School had always been an important part of your life but never a good one. Homework piled up until you felt yourself drowning and classes did nothing but lull you to sleep; yet you kept going because it was expected of you and the last thing you wanted to do was to disappoint your parents and teachers. School wasn’t a place you wanted to go to - that was until you met him. The transfer student with bright red hair stood out among the other students and his bright smiled made your dead heart beat again. His introduced himself as Donghyuck to the class but he later told you to call him Haechan. You found yourself quietly whispering his name that night before you went to sleep; it felt sweet in your mouth.

Haechan turned out to be your saviour from the dull and repetitive life you had gotten used to and with him you found yourself smiling and laughing every single day. He wasn’t exactly the best student and never did his homework, but you couldn’t blame him and honestly you couldn’t have cared less. You didn’t tell you parents about him - you knew they wouldn’t approve of him and would only claim he was a bad influence. However, your parents weren’t wrong. He started telling you to start skipping classes with him and although you were opposed to it in the beginning you eventually caved; It felt exciting breaking the rules for once. It started with only skipping a few times a week but it quickly became a regular occurrence, and before you knew it you found yourself skipping stones at the lake nearby school every single day with Haechan.

Seeing his beautiful smile as you presented the flowers you had picked for him made your heart flutter in a way it had never done before. The flowers were bright red, just like his hair and the hearts you drew on your homework instead of doing it. Even lunch at school became more exciting. Haechan got along amazingly with your friends and they’d laugh and joke around while his hand found yours under the table. Everything was perfect.

Or at least it was for a while.

The first sign of everything rapidly going downhill came in the form of a letter from the school. You and your parents were to see the principal for a meeting about your absence and falling grades, which only came as a surprise to your unknowing parents. You didn’t tell your parents about Haechan and luckily the principal hadn’t noticed the connection between yours and his absence either. ‘‘We don’t understand,’‘ your parents had said, ‘‘Y/N is not the type to do this kind of thing.’‘ And they were right. You usually weren’t the type, but you had become another version of yourself in order the please the one you were falling for. You got out with a warning from the principal and a scolding from your parents, but it only got worse from there.

Secondly, Haechan started to refuse sitting with your friends at lunch, insisting you two should sit alone instead. He claimed they didn’t like him, and when you tried convincing him otherwise he simply told you they didn’t like you either and that you were a fool if you couldn’t see it. That’s when all the name calling started too. Words like idiot, fool and dumbass were thrown around so much you were starting to doubt if he was actually joking. Regardless, you convinced yourself that he was right so you separated yourself from your friends and started ignoring their attempts of reaching out to you. From then on you mostly spent the lunch-break eating out in the schoolyard with Haechan, away from the rest of the students.

The last and probably worst sign that you should get away immediately came when Haechan refused to go to school altogether; he insisted that you’d do the same. You weren’t exactly a fan of school, but you knew the importance of keeping your grades decent and you weren’t really the type to get into trouble. It was of course pointless to tell Haechan this; he refused to go without you. ‘’You need me Y/N,’’ he’d say, ‘’do you seriously think that you’re good enough for anyone in that fucking school? I’m the only one you have.’’ And for some unknown reason you chose to believe him. He had spent so much time meticulously tearing you down mentally that you truly believed that you weren’t good enough for anyone; that you were alone in the world if it wasn’t for him. You convinced yourself that all the mean comments and name calling was simply his way of showing affection. When that didn’t work, you desperately tried telling yourself that he was still the smiling boy you fell in love with at the start of the year, but deep down you knew that that boy had died along with your hope of a loving relationship. You knew all this yet you couldn’t stop yourself from loving him.

You had slowly been cut off from the outside world; all you needed was Haechan.

_______

The bell rang as you were drawing doodles in your notebook, not paying attention to the class that had just ended. You had miraculously convinced Haechan to stop skipping and coming back to school a while back - or at least you had convinced him to let you come back. He wasn’t going to classes himself but you knew he was around somewhere, whether it was kicking stones in the schoolyard or picking on the juniors in the halls; He was always there waiting to eat lunch with you or follow you home.

You mindlessly grabbed your stuff and headed down to the schoolyard, ready to go home. Your eyes scanned the many students leaving in search for the familiar red hair you were so fond of, but he was nowhere in sight. You would’ve called out for him, but he always preferred not drawing too much attention to himself so you simply kept looking. You tightened your grip around the bag as you considered simply leaving without him. ‘‘No,’‘ you thought, ‘‘Haechan wouldn’t like that.’‘ You were so used to doing whatever he wanted that merely the thought of going against his will made you nervous.

Once most of the students had left you finally spotted him tucked away in a corner of the yard, but he wasn’t alone. From what you could see, it seemed as if he was busy kicking and punching something, or rather someone, on the ground rather aggressively. You immediately rushed over there, almost dropping your stuff in the process and started calling his name for him to stop. “Donghyuck what are you doing! Stop!” You yelled but it seemed like he didn’t hear you. Or didn’t want to. You knew he found it fun to pick on the other students once in a while but he usually wasn’t one to turn to violence, which meant that whoever this person was, they must have seriously pissed him off.

The run across the yard seemed endless as you kept calling his name with no response. You reached them just in time to hear Haechan mutter something angrily at the figure on the ground before turning to you.

‘’I won’t let you have her’’ he growled. Haechan caught your eyes momentarily before walking off. His gaze was filled with a fire you had never seen before and it made you scared; what if this was to become a regular occurrence? Once you were sure Haechan was out of sight you finally got a good look at the person on the ground. He was a boy with hair as white as snow and a strong jaw standing in contrast to his otherwise soft expression. You hadn’t seen him around before so you were sad that your first meeting consisted of him having a bloody nose and you crying out of shock and fear.

You handed him your shaky hand to help him up from the ground and he gently took it like he wasn’t shocked at all. He got up from the ground with a groan as he grabbed his side, undoubtedly because of injured ribs from the kicking. ‘’I’m so sorry,’‘ you said as you wiped away your tears with your other hand, ‘‘he isn’t usually like that.’‘ The boy in front of you finally looked up and caught you eyes with a smile. How it was possible to smile that brightly even with an injured face was beyond you, but you couldn’t deny that he was incredibly beautiful even with blood dripping down onto his clothes. His hand felt soft in yours despite having been in contact with the rough ground; everything about him seemed so oddly angelic. ‘‘It’s okay,’‘ he sighed as he let go of your hand and brushed dirt off his clothes, ‘‘Haechan is just such a little devil sometimes.’‘ He laughed at his last comment and you couldn’t help but laugh a little too. ‘‘If he’s the devil then that must make you an angel’‘ you laughed, but you caught a glimpse of seriousness in the other’s eyes. ‘’Well, are you?’’ you asked, sounding less like you were joking. ‘’I don’t know,’’ he answered with a smile, ‘’I don’t think so at least.’’ 

His nose was still bleeding and he tried dabbing it away with the sleeve of his white shirt, but to no avail, only causing an even bigger mess. ‘‘Well, if you aren’t an angel then who are you?’‘ you asked while properly studying his features. ‘‘I’m Jeno’‘ he answered, not sure if he should put his hand out again. The two of you stood in awkward silence for a while before he cleared his throat and questioningly lifted an eyebrow. ‘‘Oh! Right,’‘ you laughed, feeling ashamed that you had been so lost in admiration, ‘‘I’m Y/N.’‘ He smiled at the mention of your name, causing your heart to flutter. You had no idea what was going on; you loved Haechan despite his flaws, so why was Jeno so quickly making his way into your heart? It was rare that you talked to anyone at the school besides Haechan and you knew he wouldn’t approve of you befriending Jeno, but in that moment you had a new thought that shocked even you; to hell with Haechan.

‘’Well, it’s nice to meet you Y/N - even under these unfortunate circumstances’’ he remarked as he went to pick up his bag which had been carelessly thrown onto the dirty ground. He hissed in pain as he bent down, forcing him to drop the bag again in favour of grabbing his ribs. You rushed to his side, making sure he wouldn’t fall; you couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow your fault. ‘‘Here,’‘ you said as you frantically put on his backpack and urged him to put his arm around your shoulder, ‘‘I’ll follow you home.’‘ Jeno’s eyes widened as you grabbed his arm, not sure how to react. ‘‘N-no it’s fine, you don’t have to’‘ he stammered, yet he didn’t pull back and let you support him. ‘‘It wasn’t a question’‘ you stated as you slowly began making your way out of the school with Jeno having no choice but to hobble along with you.


End file.
